Minkah-Premo, Osei-Bonsu, Bruce-Cathline and Partners (MPOBB), a leading law firm in Ghana, has made an interesting revelation about the botched Power Distribution Services (PDS) takeover of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
It named significant figures, including the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as well as the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), as persons with knowledge of key facts surrounding the resolutions reached on the botched Power Distribution Services (PDS) transaction.
According to the firm, while Dr Dominic Ayine, the current Attorney-General, represented ECG in the arbitration proceedings, which were duly concluded with an award delivered in November 2025, the current ECG Managing Director, Julius Kwame Kpekpena, participated in a related matter as the then Chief Operating Officer of MiDA, which resulted in a solution termed the “Interim Protocol”.
The law firm described the recent arrest and detention of two of its lawyers, Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo and Sophia Kokor, by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), over investigations into the transfer of Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Ghana Cedis (GHS850, 000,000.00) from a CalBank account allegedly belonging to ECG, as unlawful.
The firm insisted that PDS does not owe ECG any money, contrary to claims by the Minister for Government Communications, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, who stated in a Facebook post that a PDS “quartet”, including Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo and Sophia Kokor, had been arrested and granted bail in connection with money “believed” to belong to ECG.
MPOBB, in a statement released on Friday, 8 May 2026, clarified the circumstances surrounding its lawyers’ involvement in the matter and addressed claims relating to their arrest and detention, which were first announced by Mr Ofosu Kwakye and later reiterated by Benjamin Alpha, a spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s office.
The Herald’s independent findings indicate that the money in question has not left the country but was transferred to First Atlantic Bank Ghana Limited for investment purposes. The payments identified as alleged money laundering were reportedly made through MPOBB to settle fees owed to foreign lawyers who defended PDS in the international arbitration.
Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo and Sophia Kokor reportedly attended the offices of the BNI at Kawukudi, Accra, on Thursday, 30 April 2026, to provide legal representation to Messrs Philip Ayesu and Viraj Bhat in relation to a PDS/ECG investigation. However, they were allegedly prevented from representing their clients after BNI and EOCO officials declared the lawyers themselves to be “persons of interest”.
The matter reportedly escalated into restrictions on the movement of Mr Kusi-Minkah Premo and Ms Kokor. They were subjected to interrogation and arrest on what the law firm described as vague and unsubstantiated allegations of “dishonestly receiving” and “abetment of money laundering”, without any specific sums or items alleged to have been dishonestly received being identified.
They were detained until the evening of the following day, Friday, 1 May 2026, before being granted bail in the sum of Fifty Million Ghana Cedis (GHS50,000,000.00) each.
According to MPOBB, “This is not a standard criminal investigation; it is a direct assault on the right to legal counsel and the professional immunity of lawyers.”
The four individuals whose arrests have been reported were all participants in arbitration proceedings that commenced in 2021 between PDS, ECG and the Government of Ghana at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA).
In those proceedings, Mr Kusi-Minkah Premo and Ms Kokor formed part of the legal team representing PDS, while ECG was represented by a legal team that included Dr Dominic Ayine, the current Attorney-General. The arbitration was concluded in November 2025, with the tribunal dismissing PDS’s reliefs and declining jurisdiction over ECG’s counterclaim. Costs were awarded against PDS.
A formal demand for payment of those costs was subsequently made by ECG’s legal representatives, and PDS paid the amounts in full through its lawyers.
The statement explained that: “The arbitration concluded that each party carried the liabilities it had incurred prior to the decision. PDS owed no money to ECG beyond the costs, which were awarded and have long since been settled. The termination dispute that began in 2019 was therefore resolved through a recognised and binding international legal process in 2025.”
It further stated: “Accordingly, the assertion made by the spokesperson for the Attorney-General that the four people, including our lawyers, were arrested and granted bail for their involvement in transferring Eight Hundred and Fifty Million Ghana Cedis (GHS850,000,000.00) from a CalBank account belonging to ECG as a result of an ‘Interim Protocol’ does not appear in any Investigation Caution Statement and therefore cannot be accurate.”
The statement added that: “The only ‘Interim Protocol’ between PDS and ECG was the product of a mediation process between ECG and PDS under the joint chairmanship of Messrs Akoto-Ampaw Esq and Eson-Benjamin, in which the current ECG Managing Director participated as the then Chief Operating Officer of MiDA. This process resulted in a solution termed the ‘Interim Protocol’. It was not an agreement amending the Transaction Agreements of the concession, nor did it replace them. The Interim Protocol lasted for less than three months, from 6 August 2019 to 23 October 2019. This matter arose during the arbitration proceedings in London. PDS does not owe, and has never owed, ECG after the arbitration, whether by virtue of the award or as a result of the ‘Interim Protocol’.”
The firm also disclosed that its Mining, Energy and Power Team, led by Mr Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo and Ms Sophia Kokor, has represented the consortium that won the ECG concession under Compact II of the Millennium Challenge Account since 2015. The concession process began during the administration of former President John Dramani Mahama and continued under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, culminating in the incorporation of PDS as the special purpose vehicle for operating the concession.
According to the statement, the firm’s legal services to PDS have continued even after the Akufo-Addo administration terminated the concession in 2019.
“We believe that the arrest of our lawyers is not only unlawful but a calculated attempt to intimidate and harass our lawyers and the firm, thereby depriving our clients of the excellent legal representation for which MPOBB has been recognised globally for the past 30 years,” the statement said.
It added that: “The use of State power to criminalise legal practitioners for their roles in concluded and lawful international arbitrations sets a dangerous precedent and raises grave concerns. The claim that PDS funds are ECG funds was already addressed through the LCIA process, where PDS settled all awarded costs. To revisit these settled commercial matters through intimidation and the purported use of criminal processes amounts to a clear abuse of State authority and a wanton disregard for judicial and arbitration processes.”
The statement further argued that the pattern of intimidation and harassment directed at Mr Justice Kusi-Minkah Premo and Ms Sophia Kokor transcends mere procedural overreach.
“When lawyers are arrested for discharging their professional obligations and are then denied the right to represent their clients, the integrity of the entire justice system is compromised,” it said.
The law firm also rejected Mr Ofosu Kwakye’s Facebook post and a subsequent interview with Joy FM by Benjamin Alpha, spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s office, describing the claims as unfortunate.
According to MPOBB, “The social media post and interview have unfortunately formed the basis of several media reports that inaccurately portray our firm and its lawyers as having engaged in illicit activities. These representations are misleading and damaging to the professional reputation of our firm and the individual lawyers who were arrested and detained.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of EOCO, Raymond Archer, who serves under the Attorney-General, has defended the ongoing investigations into the PDS matter, describing the process as thorough, professional and methodical.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile programme on Saturday, 9 May, he stated that EOCO’s work on the matter remains guided strictly by evidence and due process amid renewed public interest in the long-running investigation.
His comments come at a time when Ghana’s anti-corruption drive has intensified, with fresh arrests linked to the PDS matter reigniting scrutiny over alleged financial irregularities connected to ECG-related transactions.
“We are undertaking very professional and methodical work at EOCO in relation to this PDS investigation,” Mr Archer stated, insisting that the investigations are being conducted without bias.
